Traveller spots woman's lost wedding ring in vast Australian desert

Elizabeth Docherty was travelling in outback Queensland with her husband in June.

A woman who lost her wedding ring in a vast Australian desert is to be reunited with it after some tourists found the "lucky jewel" on a sand dune.

Elizabeth Docherty was travelling in outback Queensland with her husband in June when she realised the ring had slipped off her finger. She assumed it was lost forever until learning on Tuesday that local police in the town of Birdsville had issued an alert for the owner of a silver gem ring.

Releasing a photograph of the ring, police said: "Talk about a needle in a haystack. In 176,500 sq km [68,150 sq mile] of sand, a ring has been located in the Simpson Desert by some sharp-eyed travellers," the statement said.

"Police are keen to track down the owner of the ring and reunite them with this lucky jewel."

The news quickly spread on social media. Within hours, Docherty's sister sent her a post about the item on local ABC News and she was stunned to discover that the ring was hers. "Oh my goodness, that's my wedding ring from travelling across the desert, the world's largest sand dune desert, in June. Thank you so much. I have called them, this is unbelievable," she wrote in a comment beneath the post.

A woman named Liz Dean then wrote beneath the post: "My husband and I were the ones that found this ring at Birdsville. We are so happy it will be reunited!" Docherty responded: "You are wonderful honest people!"

Docherty, who lives 1100 miles (1770km) away in Kandos, New South Wales, and her husband are expecting a child and had been travelling in the desert. "I can't even fathom that someone has found it, let alone handed it in," she told ABC News.